Public attorneys asked to help implement juvenile justice law

The Juvenile Justice and Welfare Council (JJWC) has asked the Public Attorney’s Office (PAO) to take action on the 32 minors who have been meted out the capital punishment. Under a new law, minors cannot be punished with the death penalty.

The Juvenile Justice and Welfare Act of 2006 or RA 9344, signed into law last March 28, states that persons who have been convicted and serving sentences at the time of the law’s effectivity, and who were below 18 at the time of the offense, will benefit from the retroactive application of the law.

In a statement, the JJWC said 36 minors have been meted out the death penalty since 1994. Of this number, three have been set free and one was acquitted after the Supreme Court reviewed their cases.

Majority are still detained at the national penitentiary, three at the Metro Manila District Jail, two in penal colonies, and the lone female at the Correctional Institute for Women in Mandaluyong City.

According to the JJWC, three of those now in detention were 13 years old when they allegedly committed the offense, one was 14, five were 15, five were 16, and the rest were 17.

The JJWC stressed that those convicted shall be entitled to the appropriate dispositions and their sentences shall be adjusted accordingly.

As of December 2006, according to the JJWC, there were 5,242 children in conflict with the law all over the country. Thirty-six percent of these children are now under the care of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), while the rest are either under the jurisdiction of the various local governments or the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology.

The JJWC, together with the Juvenile Justice Network, are also looking into the plight of the more than 350 children now detained at the New Bilibid Prisons in Muntinlupa.

The final draft of the bill was passed by Congress in March 22.

RA 9344 also created the JJWC, which is attached to the Department of Justice (DOJ), for administrative supervision. It shall be headed by an undersecretary of the DSWD.

The JJWC has powers to advise the President on matters relating to juvenile justice, to develop a comprehensive three to five-year national juvenile intervention program with the participation of government agencies, NGOs and youth organizations, and to gather information on juvenile justice and welfare.

RA 9344 sets at 15 the maximum age of exemption from criminal liability. A child above 15 but below 18 shall also be exempt from criminal liability and be subjected to an intervention program unless he/she acted with discernment.

RA 9344 lists the procedures to be followed by a law enforcer in taking the child into custody as well as rules while the child is under initial investigation, prosecution, bail, detention pending trial, and even after-care.

According to the law, once a child is taken into custody and is determined to be 15 years old or younger, the authority who had initial contact with the child shall immediately release him to the custody of his parents, guardian, or nearest relative and notify the local social welfare officer who shall determine the appropriate programs for the child in consultation with the guardians.

If the child has no guardian or they refuse to take him, the child may be released to a registered NGO or religious organization, barangay official or member of the Barangay Council for the Protection of Children, or the local DSWD officer. – Mike Frialde